Bali bombing survivors trek to Clermont to change Rhys' life

WHAT started as one bloke commenting on a Facebook post after having one too many beers has turned into the ultimate cross country pilgrimage to help one man play golf with his family.

Ben Tullipan is a survivor of the 2002 Bali Bombing terrorist attacks. During the attack, in which Mr Tullipan lost both his legs, he met Glenn Cosman, who pulled him away from the fire and burning cars and wrapped his severely wounded legs in t-shirts.

Since that "horrific night” the two have stayed close friends.

After recovering from the injuries that left him a double amputee, Mr Tullipan began running free golf clinics at the Spinal Injuries Unit at Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital, which is where he met Rhys Wood

"I met a young bloke from outback Queensland when I was running one of my free clinics,” Mr Tullipan said. "Last year Rhys had a snowboarding accident in Canada and as a result became a paraplegic.”

Having always been an avid golfer, Mr Tullipan changed Mr Wood's life by introducing him to the ParaGolfer, a $40,000 mobility device that enables him to stand up and play golf.

However, living at Clermont, Mr Wood is too far away from the only two ParaGolfers in Queensland - at Cairns and the Gold Coast.

Rallying the community to help, his family has organised a charity golf day to raise money to buy him his own ParaGolfer.

"I put a post on my Facebook page a couple of weeks ago calling for help... to take a ParaGolfer from the Gold Coast to Mackay.” Mr Tullipan said

"One of my mates, another Bali Bombing survivor, replied.”

Mr Cosman volunteered to tow the ParaGolfer on the 14-hour trip to Clermont and following his offer, made after a couple of beers, a group of Clermont businesses jumped on board to help.

"He (Mr Cosman) called me in the morning and said, 'I'd had a few too many drinks, it's a long way' and I said but you've committed now,” Mr Tullipan said.